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Ange Postecoglou gave a spiky response when asked about Crystal Palace's disallowed goal against Tottenham. The visitors were denied an opener after eight minutes in their win in north London on Sunday afternoon. Palace thought they had taken the lead through Ismaila Sarr after a swift counter-attack. However, VAR ruled out the goal using semi-automated offside technology after an infringement in the build-up. Replays showed that Jean-Philippe Mateta had been marginally offside just inside the Spurs half earlier in the move. Following the match, Postecoglou was asked what he made of the disallowed strike. The Australian bluntly told talk SPORT: "It was offside, " before adding: "I think the rules are clear, it was offside, wasn’t it? " Postecoglou was then asked by reporter Alfie Reynolds: "I think the debate we were having is whether, because there's the argument (that) offside is offside, but when you look at ones like that. .. "Is that why it was brought in? Can you not see what we're saying? " Postecoglou hit back by replying: "But you just answered, offside is offside/ So what you’re saying is sometimes offside is not offside. Is that what you’re saying? " When told no one in the stadium had appealed for the initial offside, the Spurs boss said: "So if you don’t appeal for offside, it’s not offside? " Postecoglou continued: "I don’t know what you’re saying because offside, that’s a factual decision, it’s not a debatable one. So the rules state, now unless you’re saying you should change the rules, is that what you’re saying? " As for whether more leeway could be given by needing daylight between players for it to be considered offside, he explained: "Oh, that’s a whole different discussion, but that was offside. "So you have to follow the rules, you can’t expect the referee to say, ‘well actually, I don’t like that rule, so I’m going to change it’. It was offside. " Postecoglou left little doubt as to his stance on such a rule change, exclaiming: "I couldn’t care less. You play by the rules, I don’t care. "You know how many times we’ve been caught like that this year, so what’s the difference? It’s offside, I think it’s factual. I don’t think there should be any debate about that. "If anything, that’s probably why VAR was brought in, that the factual decisions are factual. " Spurs' latest defeat was their 20th in the Premier League from 36 matches so far this season. It leaves Postecoglou's side 17th in the table with two matches remaining and unable to finish higher than 13th this term. As well as being guaranteed their lowest finish for 21 years, Spurs could still complete their worst season since promotion back to the top-flight in 1978. © 2025 talk SPORT Limited
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